The inevitable article from Alison Mau, NZ’s #metoo queen, came out yesterday. Don’t get me wrong. I think Andrew Falloon’s actions are disgraceful and he deserved his fate. Mau’s reaction was also fair enough; to remember the women involved in such cases who are victims. We must never forget that these people are innocent.
With information tumbling out by the minute about what it seems might regularly take place when ex-MP Andrew Falloon has a drink, it’s hard to know where to begin.
So let’s start, as everyone should have, with the young woman (now we know it’s women, plural) who was sent pornography by a much older man in a position of power and privilege. An MP, whose behaviour should rightly be held to a higher standard than the rest of us plebs.
I couldn’t agree more. Every time I hear of incidents such as this, I bemoan the fact that MPs need to understand that we, the voters, expect a much higher standard of behaviour than this. Representing the voters of New Zealand is an honour and a privilege and should not be taken lightly or abused by those who have been lucky enough to succeed.
But as usual, Mau goes too far.
And until her round of media interviews on Tuesday morning, National’s new leader Judith Collins did not once publicly mention the young woman – it was as if she was vapour, less substantial as a human being than the disgraced MP Falloon, and her distress certainly less worthy of mention than his supposed “significant mental health issues”.
Collins is saying that effectively, Falloon lied to her when she first spoke to him, and she clearly mentioned her concern for the young woman involved when she was interviewed on Tuesday. But in spite of the fact that she knew nothing about it until late Friday and decided to deal with it face to face, of course, she is now being pilloried for the only thing they can use against her – that she took too long to act. Comparisons with Jacinda and Labour’s numerous sex scandals here are pointless; Alison Mau’s political takedowns only go one way.
So what can Judith Collins do, if she is in fact being honest about her willingness to deal with this as a human, rather than a political, issue?
She can release, with urgency, the report into harassment and bullying in the National Party that one of her predecessors Simon Bridges (remember him?) refused to release. It’s not likely to be a perfect document by any stretch – it did not even gather the views of the women whose treatment sparked it – but it would be a start
If Jacinda were to release details of ‘enquiries’ into the various Labour sex scandals, it would give the New Zealand public some sunlight into those matters, but Alison Mau is not asking for that, even though she should.
Mau, of course, could not wait to get to her keyboard to pour bile on National and its new leader but, as events have played out, maybe she should have waited a day or so for the Iain Lees-Galloway story to break. Of course, we will hear no criticism of the minister from Mau. The relationship was allegedly “consensual”, even though it has now been described by the prime minister as an abuse of power. Isn’t ‘abuse of power’ what the #metoo movement is all about?
So I wait with bated breath for Alison Mau’s article on the subject of the minister and the staffer (and the abuse of power) tomorrow.
In the meantime, over at RNZ, Cat MacLennan has written a similarly derogatory piece which has not aged well either, even after one day.
Entitlement is the common thread in the recent downfalls of four National MPs.
GILMORE in 2013, Todd Barclay in 2017 and Hamish Walker and Andrew Falloon in 2020 have all left Parliament under a cloud after short-lived political careers.
As well as being National MPs, the four were also all male, Pakeha and youthful when elected to Parliament. Barclay, Walker and Falloon, in safe National seats, were virtually guaranteed highly-paid jobs as politicians for life.
Aaron Gilmore was 7 years ago, and he was promptly sacked by John Key for his arrogance. I would hardly call that recent. Todd Barclay was inexperienced and fell foul of the staff in his electorate and had no help from the higher echelons in the party. His case was quite different from arrogance in a restaurant or sending pornographic photos to young women.
All four men occupied incredibly privileged positions – being paid three times the median wage plus expenses, and having people defer to them and smooth their way through life.
But none of them recognised their good fortunes. Instead, they believed their positions were a result of merit and their Master-of-the-Universe white maleness entitled them to what they had been given.
It is here that entitlement intersects awkwardly for the party with the spotlight recently shone on National’s lack of diversity.
But Labour MPs somehow are never privileged, overpaid or receive deference? Of course not. They are all far too humble for that.
Except of course for Iain Lees-Galloway, sacked yesterday for an “abuse of power”. Will you be writing about his privilege, overstuffed wallet or the deference he expects, particularly from staffers tomorrow, Cat?
MacLennan uses this opportunity to criticise National for its lack of diversity. I have been searching for the last half hour for her articles praising the party when they had a Maori leader and a Maori co-leader, but as Willy Jackson says, they were simply the ‘wrong type’ of Maoris, obviously.
Ironically, National’s insistence that diversity does not matter is now seriously harming the party. In addition to the losses of the contributions which would be offered by MPs from a wide range of backgrounds, National’s monochromatic line-up is perpetuating entitled, outdated attitudes among those whom it selects to represent it.
Why would its MPs feel any need to address their own racism and sexism when both the party and our society reward them so richly for being exactly what they are?
Simon Bridges is at number 4. Shane Reti is at number 5. Melissa Lee at number 20. Then Alfred Ngaro, Harete Hipango, Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, Parmjeet Parmer, Jo Hayes, Dan Bidois, Agnes Loheni, Paulo Garcia, Bala Beeram, Catherine Chu all come before Christopher Luxon on the list at present. Sounds like a fairly diverse and representative bunch to me.
Both ladies should have pressed the pause button before writing their biased and inaccurate pieces, because the landscape changed today. A Labour minister lost his job for an inappropriate relationship and abuse of power. Labour MPs do it too. Who knew?
I look forward to reading the swathe of articles tomorrow criticising Labour MPs for their abuses of power and their inherent racism.
But I won’t be holding my breath. It is always all right when the left does it.
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